<p>Just as a contrast since I am the original poster, right now I am with my DS at a major state university in the midwest. This particular college flew my son out as an academic recruit (they paid for hotel, food and airfare). It’s funny but since my son is a big guy and former football player at his h.s., they keep on asking him if he is an athletic recruit (which is big at this school) and he says no “academic.” Due to my son’s SAT score, they say they will cover the out of state portion of his tuition, due to his psat score, they also say they will cover his instate tuition. Plus he is visiting because he is a candidate for honors college and a scholar program which is a different avenue for a full-ride. My son is not the top of his class but a good student. His hs doesn’t rank so I don’t really know where he falls. The presentation by this college has been excellent and my son now has this school as on his top 5. In the meantime when my son asked Cal for a viewbook, he received an email that they couldn’t afford to print them and could be downloaded via the internet. As a California native, it makes me so sad that our college system is at its current state. Just based on my son’s experience (and there have been at least 6 other state universities who have offered him full rides if he is admitted), California’s Class of 2010 seriously should look at other states for college.</p>
<p>itsv, it is indeed sad. It wasn’t that long ago that the UC system was considered to be the best public system not just in the country, but in the world. I once heard it referred to as “the crown jewel of American education.” I don’t think anyone would mistake it for a bright and shiny diamond these days.</p>
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I think there’s too much doom and gloom on this thread. Sure, the state colleges in California and many other states are feeling the budget crunch as are many privates and as are many businesses. They’ll make whatever adjustments needed to manage to the budget just like the private business world has always had to do. Some of these will be temporary, some will be longer term, some will be painful, and some they should have done long ago as part of routine efficiency improvements.</p>
<p>But before anyone makes rash decisions to avoid all the UCs/CSUs based on the hype in news articles and use the ‘grass is greener on the other side’ syndrome too much they should take a look at the actual impacts they or their kids would experience at whichever particular college they happen to choose. The UCs and CSUs are still managing to educate people even today and will continue to over the next years. The top UCs (and others) still have some of the top professors and researchers in the world. The top UCs and apparently more and more of the other UCs and CSUs are still managing to attract even higher levels of students and they’re still graduating these students who will continue to go on to enter the work force and eventually end up in important positions in companies, they’ll go on to grad schools including the top ranked ones, and will still manage to be achievers in society.</p>
<p>People should pay attention to the actual changes at the particular campus and might decide to go elsewhere to another college that they’ve hopefully examined for similar budget impacts, quality of the experience, and potential opportunities. But I think they should avoid over-arching conclusions that all of the UCs/CSUs are no longer worthy of considering.</p>
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<p>You do make a good point! Just as one example: My D’s boyfriend is in the physics program at CSUSF. While he is feeling the effects of the furloughs and some constraints on general-ed classes, still his degree will be of a high quality. The Physics Department at that campus receives a great deal of outside funding, and most of their equipment is received from Stanford – sort of “lightly used” hand-me-downs, very good quality stuff. He will end up with a valuable degree which will probably land him at the U Chicago grad program where he wants to go.</p>
<p>So it does behoove prospective students to check into THEIR particular program at THEIR particular campus.</p>
<p>^^ Yes - the experience of a CS major vs. a history major vs. a bioE major vs. a film major might all be quite different at particular campuses. Different colleges/schools within a particular university (school of Engineering, School of Film, etc.) have different funding sources and different ways of running their programs. I’m sure there are general impacts in most areas but some programs, for example some of the less popular majors, will likely be impacted more than others, especially if some of those others have large donations from benefactors (like the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering for example). The details can be important when commiting what to most of us is a lot of money.</p>
<p>Sammy the Dog- My son is a jr at Univ of the Pacific. It is a beautiful campus. I have to disagree about the wanting to go shopping. I don’t think my son has gone “shopping” in the 3 yrs he has been there. Granted Stockton is not the nicest town. The people who work at UOP have always been helpful and friendly. We were hesitant to send him to school in Stockton but he has been very happy. I don’t think he has had a class with over 30 students. Most of his classes in his major usually have under 15 students.
I think the UC’s and CSU’s have a lot to offer. In my son’s case with ADD and LD he needed the support of smaller classes. We will definitely look and consider seriously the Ca public’s for child number 3.
Regarding sending out a viewbook. I talked with someone whose child is considering a transfer. On the list are 3 or 4 out of state public schools. Her child requested information and received emails back saying all the information was available online and they no longer send out printed material.</p>
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<p>A physics professor friend thinks UCSB has one of the best physics programs in the nation. Said friend doesn’t teach at UCSB, so no tooting-your-own-horn syndrome. And for any kid who is interested in the programs offered through the College of Creative Studies (Art, Bio, Chem and Biochem, Comp Sci, Lit, Math, Music Composition, Physics) Santa Barbara should definitely be under consideration. One of the Nobel bio winners for this year was a CCS Bio grad.</p>
<p>The state budget crisis isn’t so much making me say “no UC/CSU” to D1. It’s more “spread your net more widely, just in case.”</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad makes some very good points! Check each school and department as to the requirements as many have changed, also, admissions have been changing which will have a big impact for 2010 I believe. As a parent of 2 kids at UCLA and one at SDSU, other than steep tuition hikes and some furlough days at SDSU that are a little irritating to my D, we have seen few changes in actual class availability, counseling, tutoring etc. so far. It seems the professors really do care about the students and are dong the best they can at both schools. I have actually been pleasantly surprised. D accepted on OOS offer from a large, well know University, but as the spring went on, we determined that that school was worse off than the UC’s and she withdrew acceptance and accepted UCLA. Turned out to be the right move. Good luck to all the freshman applicant parents out there, I feel for you this year. Last year was bad enough!</p>
<p>“I think there’s too much doom and gloom on this thread.”</p>
<p>Not to me! Less competiton for my son!</p>
<p>joking…</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, an acquaintance of mine has a S who is a freshman at UCSB (Coll of Creative Studies). He is a national merit scholar (finalist?) and also got accepted at Brown (and got contacted by other places that offered to give him a full ride) but chose to go to UCSB. It could be becuase of the proximity to home (we are in CA), but I view his choice as a little tip o’ the hat to the UC system.</p>
<p>BfloGal- The College of Creative Studies is highly regarded. If I am recalling correctly it has an additional application process. You can be accepted into UCSB but not into College of creative studies. We have a friend who graduated from the school. I remember her waiting on her College of Creative studies acceptance before making her decision. (she was a transfer from a liberal arts college that is ranked in the top 2 in the nation)</p>
<p>agree with mom60 - College of Creative Studies is very competitive, and only takes a few students in each field. It’s designed to attract the best and offers grad-school level opportunities from day one. Many of its students chose this program despite being accepted in schools with far more overall prestige than UCSB.</p>
<p>From my son’s high school newsletter:</p>
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</p>
<p>Yikes, vballmom! Remember too that the CSU system is cutting freshman enrollment by 40,000 for Fall '10. This could get ugly. :(</p>
<p>“I think there’s too much doom and gloom on this thread.”
au contraire…more to come. some years ago, people began moving out of cal to avoid the crowding and sense that the real estate balloon was about as overblown as it could get. now it’s time for the younger generation to do the same thing, for reasons related to their financial futures. this state has overspent itself with years of too-generous entitlements, support programs for folks who haven’t contributed to the system, and anti-business taxes/rules/regulations. go east, young man (woman).</p>
<p>Sammy, so far, here’s the list of schools she plans or has applied to:</p>
<p>Cal Poly
USC
Stanford
UC Davis
University of the Pacific–applied Early Action
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Indiana University-Bloomington–applied EA
Yale
Wake Forest–maybe
Chico State</p>
<p>So, yeah, she’s definitely appling broadly! 
No guarantee on what the final outcome will be! </p>
<hr>
<p>Sammy wrote:</p>
<p>2leashes- we spent a lot of time in San Luis Obispo this summer with son. I can really understand now why Cal Poly is such a popular school. Great college town atmosphere combined with great academics. Know lots of kids from the Santa Cruz area that are at Cal Poly and love it. Your daughter should definitely apply there even if she isn’t 100% sold on it. While University of the Pacific campus may be beautiful, the students want to go shopping in town frequently and Stockton is really not a college town for a variety of reasons. </p>
<p>Have her apply broadly, easier to turn down an admission slot than to regret not applying later.</p>
<p>Itsv, my daughter just applied to Indiana University-Bloomington, but since it’s a public OOS, I notice how large the price tag is going to be. She might be eligible for a $8-10,000 merit scholarship, however that doesn’t cover but a third of the cost of attending. I also think of all the plane trips back and forth…and yet, you’re making solid points. Sigh.</p>
<p>itsv wrote:</p>
<p>Just as a contrast since I am the original poster, right now I am with my DS at a major state university in the midwest. This particular college flew my son out as an academic recruit (they paid for hotel, food and airfare). It’s funny but since my son is a big guy and former football player at his h.s., they keep on asking him if he is an athletic recruit (which is big at this school) and he says no “academic.” Due to my son’s SAT score, they say they will cover the out of state portion of his tuition, due to his psat score, they also say they will cover his instate tuition. Plus he is visiting because he is a candidate for honors college and a scholar program which is a different avenue for a full-ride. My son is not the top of his class but a good student. His hs doesn’t rank so I don’t really know where he falls. The presentation by this college has been excellent and my son now has this school as on his top 5. In the meantime when my son asked Cal for a viewbook, he received an email that they couldn’t afford to print them and could be downloaded via the internet. As a California native, it makes me so sad that our college system is at its current state. Just based on my son’s experience (and there have been at least 6 other state universities who have offered him full rides if he is admitted), California’s Class of 2010 seriously should look at other states for college.</p>